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Cover for 17133IIED.pdf
Fair and sustainable food systems: from vicious cycles to virtuous circles
… Modern industrial food, energy and water systems are fundamentally unsustainable. Their … of natural resources at one end, and a limitless capacity to absorb waste and pollution at the other. Our continued reliance on these industrial systems is pushing the world into a vicious cycle of food shortages, climate chaos, famine and disaster. How can we transform …
Publication, 01 June 2012
Woman cooks using wood fire
Feeding all city inhabitants
… rural residents, a large proportion of the urban poor suffer from food insecurity and malnutrition. This is closely linked to low and … people, with about two billion people experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity. Nearly 144 million children under the age of five are … combined with inadequate or outright lack of basic infrastructure and waste management as well as exposure to climate change-induced extreme …
Insight, 27 June 2021
An image showing rabbits raised in elevated cages. This and manure being collected for the worm composting and to create organic fertilizers illustrate a permaculture food production system in action (Photo: Khanh Tran-Thanh/IIED)
Farming the future: Cuba's food transformation
… farms quickly came to a standstill and Cuba's import-dependent food system started to unravel. The country found itself in the grips of a severe food crisis almost overnight. For decades, Cuban farms had been … of agroecological practice) to grow their crops: they collect organic waste from the nearby farmer's market for composting; they practice …
Insight, 19 May 2016
Top: Sohel Ahmed and colleague prepare to release the balloon; bottom: Some of the photographs taken from the air (Photos: Sohel Ahmed)
Up in the air: Citizen scientists map food dangers in Nairobi
… it, and some interviews are helping the team map a hidden aspect of food insecurity in an informal settlement in Nairobi. By walking through … information about the area, and what they are most interested in is food. Cycle of risk The project's citizen scientists are mapping how … afford stalls or shops and so sit alongside sewers that can send waste perilously close to their goods when they overflow. With little …
Insight, 31 March 2014
A field of bare earth covered with rows of dried stalks.
Climate, health and urban informal economies – stories of need and change
Article, 07 June 2022
‘Virtuous circles’ can help secure food supplies and address climate change
… by IIED paints a vivid picture of an alternative future in which food, energy and water supplies are sustainable and in the control of … of resources and a limitless capacity for the environment to absorb waste and pollution. The global food system’s dependence on fossil fuels that contribute to local … Food and agriculture …
News, 22 November 2011
Customers at a milk bar in Ndumbuini in Kabete, Nairobi. Research in Kenya has found that milk sold in this way had similar bacterial levels to those sold in formal markets (Photo: ILRI/Paul Karaimu)
What do street food, charcoal, gold, mobile phones and milk have in common?
… In China, approximately 700,000 informal workers collect or recycle waste electronic and electrical equipment such as mobile phones, working … properly counted. In East and Southern Africa, up to 95 per cent of food is sold in informal markets. Six million consumers in Kenya drink … vendors supplied over 85 per cent of the market . And it's not just food. A report (PDF)  for GIZ, the German Federal Enterprise for …
Insight, 17 December 2014
Cover for 17131IIED.pdf
Planning adaptation for food and farming: lessons from 40 years’ research
Publication, 01 May 2012
Women selling spices in the street
Getting attention to a much-neglected health agenda: occupational health and safety
… discussions and key informant interviews among those who do solid waste picking and recycling as well as those involved in urban … in diverse informal activities, including collection of plastic waste. Mabvuku-Tafara is a formal high-density suburb in Harare, with … and many residents engage in informal livelihoods such as farming and food vending. Masvingo is on the main highway linking Zimbabwe and South …
Insight, 27 April 2021
Cover for 14619IIED.pdf
Virtuous Circles: Values, Systems, Sustainability
… in hard copy format in August 2012.** Our current way of providing food and other basic needs involves industrialised systems that are … the environment has an infinite capacity to absorb pollution and waste (which it hasn’t). The inevitable result is resource shortages on … very little waste in natural systems. The ‘waste’ from one species is food for another, or is converted into a useful form by natural …
Publication, 01 August 2012